Bupleurum Griffithii

Zesty lime-green starburst heads above oval blue-grey leaves that wrap right round the stem. If you have envied the bright green euphorbia stems that turn up in expensive florists' work, this gives you the same lift without the caustic sap.

Green is the colour every florist wants more of and almost nothing supplies on a decent stem. Bupleurum supplies it in quantity at 60 to 90cm, it brightens dark colours and warms up pale ones, and it holds a long time in the vase. We grow it here in Norfolk specifically for the dried range.

Two things worth knowing. It is in the same family as ammi and fennel and has the same objection to being moved, so it does best sown where it is to grow rather than raised in modules. And dried green is fragile in a way dried gold is not. Ultraviolet light bleaches it, so a bunch hung in a sunny window will be straw-coloured within a season. Dry it in the dark, keep the finished arrangement out of direct sun, and the colour holds for years.